although i don't think much of her political opinions, and i don't think too much of hahvahd, apparently she was an honors student in high school, and she isn't a bad actress.
however, people can be intelligent, talented, hard-working, and still be pretty naive politically.
I've found Ms. Portman to be one of the worst actresses in Hollywood. She didn't singlehandedly destroy Star Wars.....but then, Jar Jar was a blue-screen entity.
She's a prima-donna nut job, to boot.